For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen…
Paul (who we first met under the name Saul) of Tarsus, had, by the time he wrote to the Christians in Rome, completed two, and was likely on his third journey across Asia Minor and on into areas of Macedonia, Greece and Achaia in his obedience to the Lord to share the Good News of Jesus – at first to those of his “kinsmen of the flesh” (Jews) but also to the nations of the earth. Though he had hopes to venture as far west as Spain, at the time of his writing to those in Rome (likely between 55 and 57 AD), the farthest west he had gone was Berea of Macedonia. Paul was familiar with a number of the believers who gathered in Rome and had worked closely with Prisca and Aquila (who had hosted the gatherings in their home before being banished, by Imperial decree, from Rome, along with all those of Jewish heritage).
The citizens of Rome – the seat of the Empire – were impacted by the volatile moods of its emperors. The idea that the emperor was the descendant of a god (and was therefore entitled to worship, as a god) had put the monotheist in disfavor with the Emperor Claudius. This would include Jews and Christians (who were still considered a sect of Judaism at this time in history). Around the time that Paul had set out on his second journey (49 AD) Claudius had issued a banishment of all Jews from the capital city.
The Lord used this event to orchestrate a meeting between Paul and Aquila and Prisca (also called Priscilla) in Corinth – which was toward the end of Paul’s trip (Acts 18:1-4). The banishment, since it was focused on Judaism, would have likely caused all Jewish converts to leave Rome, but would have not included converts from the other nations.
Along with their common faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, the trio also worked together in the making of tents – which would have facilitated many hours of conversation and mutual edification. This would have given Paul a chance to “get to know” many of the Gentile converts and would have appealed to Paul’s zeal for sharing his faith with them either before or after his trip to Spain.
Though the letter to the Christians in Rome is commonly thought to have been written by Paul after his third journey, it is quite likely that he wrote to them early in that mission. To reinforce the timing of the letter to those in Rome as during the earlier stages of Paul’s third journey, it should be remembered that before he returned to Jerusalem, around 57 AD, he was warned through the Spirit, multiple times by the believers in Tyre that he should expect to be arrested if he went to Jerusalem. He is further warned by Agabus, the prophet who traveled from Judea to Caesarea, that he would be bound and delivered over to the Gentiles if he went to Jerusalem (Acts 21:7-12). All this to say – Paul, by the end of his third journey, knew that he was going to go to Jerusalem and the Spirit had warned him through the believers that in doing so he would be turned over to the gentiles, which would likely have ended in his being delivered to Rome (which it did) – none of which are referenced in his letter to the believers in Rome.
The two years in Ephesus, which would have spanned the time of the death of Claudius (and therefore the end of the decreed banishment of the Jews and Jewish converts) and the coronation of Nero as Emperor, would have given him sufficient opportunity to write to those in Rome, as well as Corinth.
But what about his motive?
This timeline also would have been shortly after Prisca and Aquila’s encounter with Apollos (the Greek convert) in Ephesus and his (Apollos’) subsequent trip to Corinth (Acts 18:24). Paul’s arrival in Ephesus included his having to correct some of Apollos’ influence (Acts 19:1-7), specifically regarding the baptism of the Spirit. In all, this timing would have provided Paul with ample opportunity and motive to reach out to Corinth and to Rome to address the topics on his heart and finally, it is likely that Aquila and Prisca had returned to their home in Rome by this time as well.
The letter to the believers in Rome is a unique endeavor from Paul. Whereas all his other epistles are to the gatherings of the saints with whom he had directly worked, those in Rome would have only been known to Paul by reputation (and vice versa). Even Paul’s personal letters were to men with whom he had co-labored. For Paul to write to a city that he had never even visited, let alone evangelized in, was exceptional – but then so was his message.
There are 125 words or terms that Paul includes in his letter to those in Rome that are never used elsewhere in the New Testament – by Paul or any other authors. There are another 56 words or terms that occur in this letter and in only one or two others. No other letter contains that level of customization. Paul clearly felt a need to address the re-introduction of believers who were his “kinsmen of the flesh” with those of the Gentiles, who had spent much of the last five years dependent on their own experiences in Christ to guide them, without the perspective of the covenants and the history written for our example and instruction as Paul reminded the Corinthians (1Cor.10:11).
For the purpose of reviewing the current state of Mankind, Paul’s treatise to those in Rome serves quite well in its focused recounting of the events of God’s relationships with Man and their implications to believers (then and now). Since he was writing to mostly Gentile converts (one would imagine that the majority of the Jewish converts who had been banished were re-settled elsewhere) this focus was intentional. Those Jewish converts who did return would have likely trickled in as their circumstances allowed. Tradesmen such as Aquila were in the best place to pick up and move back.
Paul takes the time to go deep into the history of God’s dealings with Mankind, as well as how it all fit into His bigger picture. Paul was clearly motived by providing the “non-Jewish” converts this background – the need for which would have been encouraged, at least in part, by the time he had spent with Prisca and Aquila, as well as what he had heard from them about Apollos of Alexandria’s limited understanding and Paul’s first-hand experience with correcting Apollos’ teachings in Ephesus (1Cor.1:12; 3:1-23). It seems Paul is shoring up their understanding of the Plan of God through the Ages and the connections of that plan to all of Mankind. It is a masterful and deliberate treatise…one I will take full advantage of here.
The Plan of God in Time—Defining and Demarcating the Two Paths
· Romans 1:18-20 – Universal Evidence
· Romans 1:21-32 – Universal Deliverance
· Romans 2:1-16 – Universal Impartiality
· Romans 3:19-30 – Universal Justice
Two quick reminders:
1) chapters and verse in the Bible were inserted to help provide a means of quality control for translators of the original manuscripts and duplicators of either the originals or their translations;
2) I am focusing here only on Man’s current state – the state we all inherited from Adam. The universal solution can be found in a review of God’s plan and the Everlasting Covenant.
Universal Evidence – Romans 1:18-23
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
Paul starts his discourse in the most obvious place; the beginning – creation by our Creator!
Throughout the confines of time, Mankind is faced with an unyielding and unavoidable reality. The universe in which we live is itself the evidence of a Creator – nothing can change that evidence – even if “every man” denies it. God’s righteousness/justice (the word in the Greek means both and both are used interchangeable by Paul) is also evidenced in creation. Within the order He put in place, that surrounds us, are proofs of His invisible, eternal power and His divinity, (Creation was, after all, the language of the Age of the Father). Evidence that is so irrefutable that we are left without excuse if we deny or ignore it – unapologetically so. (I would add that science is beginning to come around – but then that would suggest that true science ever presented another solution. What I mean is that if science is simply defined as the observation of results – neither creation or evolution truly qualifies: and therefore both require acts of faith!)
But Mankind…
Our forefather Adam, was the first to support the often repeated dialectic that closes eyes and minds and hearts to the self-evident truth of Creation: “Has God said?” and “You shall surely not die!” (By “support” I mean that he allowed it to stand as a viable premise when he did not hold fast and true to the command of God – a topic we will cover in great detail in the next section.) The “doubt and the denial” formula that has been used for 6000 years – and more often today than any time in the history of our race – or so it seems. It is an argument that leads us to the exaltation of our own desires above those things which God, for our good, prohibits; He prohibits those things because He knows us better than we will ever know ourselves. It ignores the evidence of the order of creation – meaning it does not even bother to consider it: it simply and completely ignores it. But not of creation only; also, of His ongoing involvement – for God has made Himself known to us not just through His creation, but also His promises and the very presence of His Spirit.
For those converts not of Jewish heritage, it is most likely that they had been saturated in a culture that was pantheistic or agnostic; who had no reason to trust the motives or integrity of “the gods”. In many ways, not unlike those educated today in the humanist and evolutionary concepts of “modern” man. The very same concepts that encourage fear and doubt and the very denial of God and of His design.
It is a symptom of our fallen nature that we, when faced with a truth that makes us uncomfortable, do not just turn our backs to it – we instead endeavor to discredit and defy it. In this case – the Truth of God’s Supremacy – we choose to defame and slander Him, accusing Him of being unworthy, unkind, unavailable or even unprovable. We, in our audacity, will ignore the improbability of an evolutionary event that adds even one line of code – one bit of new information – to our genetic map – (the blind knight opening 1000 doors over 1000 floors with only one door each floor leading him to his final quest and the other 999 to certain death – to borrow from Michael Behe) before we will entertain the idea of creation. In defiance of His wisdom, we embrace foolish reasonings; in denial of His light and the enlightenment He shared, we attest to the “better” that is darkness. Professing ourselves to be smarter (more “scientific”?) than God, we become bumbling imitations of ourselves; having been made in His Image and Likeness, we choose to instead, embrace the image and form of beasts and birds and the primordial ooze!
It is truly that bad – and though I am not ignorant to the sufferings caused by Adam’s choice – I am realistic enough to accept the truth that given the same choice, we too would have failed. How can I know? – because we have and we did. We are all given the chance to embrace God’s loving rules for living, instead of exalting our own desires, and we have all failed – more than once!
…to be continued